Nearly 50 students and a dozen or so faculty and staff gathered last week for the first Town Hall with Taylor. The open question-and-answer session was organized to hear from students and share Dean Taylor Randall’s vision for the future of the Eccles School.
Students shared positive experiences and aspects of being part of the University of Utah’s largest college, as well as provided feedback on things that could be improved. Faculty and staff joined in the conversation as well, offering insight and recommendations for programs, policies and procedures.
Town Hall with Taylor was scheduled during the last week of classes this semester, which made it challenging for some to participate (we’ll meet earlier next time). Still, for the first Town Hall event, participation was strong and signaled even greater engagement in the future.
A few noteworthy topics were addressed, which we’d like to share with you here:
Community
There’s a desire to build on the Eccles School’s sense of community. Students should feel empowered to find their community, and most importantly, everyone affiliated with the Eccles School should join a niche community within the school.
This type of engagement will go a long way to position students as stronger job candidates, helping them land their dream job after graduation (and maybe even before). We hope everyone will get involved outside the classroom.
Communication
Students expressed an interest in improving channels of communication with the Eccles School. To that end, if you’re reading this, thank you.
The Eccles Extra blog and newsroom is ground zero when it comes to lines of communication with the School. We hope you’ll subscribe to this site’s feed, sign-up to receive our email newsletter, and like, join, friend and follow us on all our social platforms. We also hope to hear from you in the comments on this site and social walls, groups and discussion forums online. Be sure to tag any content you share online with #Ubusiness. Communication is, after all, at least a two-way (if not a three+ way) street.
Opportunity
Students told us they’re interested in learning often, and earlier in their student careers, about the many opportunities at the Eccles School.
We heard you loud and clear, and we’ve already set to work on additional ways we can get the word out about all the opportunities for experiential learning, scholarships and the like.
Events
This final topic comes from what we see as a need to foster a greater sense of purpose and belonging among freshmen students at the Eccles School: Events.
Next year we’re going to hold an event just for Eccles School students, separate from University orientation, where we talk about what it means to be a student in the David Eccles School of Business, what opportunities are ahead, and how to make the most of your college experience.
Right now we’re calling this event Day Zero. You’ll hear more about it in the months ahead.
At Town Hall for Taylor we received two-sided note card feedback from about 75 people. We assure you every comment has been received and compiled into categories, and the Eccles School team is going to work on enhancing and expanding how we support students; how we provide value to our most important audience.
For those of you who weren’t able to attend the Town Hall, feel free to use the comments on this article to let us know your thoughts. And please stay tuned to hear about what else comes from the inaugural Town Hall.